2023-07-06 12:14:01
About 40 years ago, the new wave band Ultravox was able to win over the famous Beatles producer George Martin for the recording of their album. Now “Quartet” appears in a new edition.
London.
In the early 1980s, Ultravox were among the pioneering bands of the new wave movement with their creative, sophisticated synth sound and hits like “Hymn”, “Vienna” and “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”. Even after the last joint concert of Midge Ure, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Warren Cann almost ten years ago, things didn’t get quiet about Ultravox. Because the musicians are gradually opening up their tape archive. Now the album “Quartet”, which was recorded in 1982 under the aegis of Beatles producer George Martin, is being released in a impressive new edition.
Martin, who was responsible for legendary classics like “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, initially showed little interest in working with Ultravox. “Our manager met him and said it would be a great combination,” recalls Ultravox frontman Midge Ure in an interview with the German Press Agency in London. “Martin’s daughter was a huge fan and told him: ‘You have to do this!’ She convinced him to produce us. That was great.”
“Quartet”, recorded in the summer of 1982 and released in October of that year, was the third Ultravox album to feature Ure on vocals. It included the singles “Reap The Wild Wind”, “Visions In Blue” and “We Came To Dance” alongside “Hymn”, one of the group’s biggest hits. In addition to the remastered original album, the new box set contains a new stereo mix and a 5.1 surround mix by sound genius Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), plus B-sides, demos and a fascinating live concert from London in 1982.
Ure: Wanted to try something new
To date, Ultravox had worked with the German sound engineer Conny Plank. “It wasn’t that things didn’t work out with Conny, we just felt like we wanted to try something new,” says Ure. The British hoped for new impetus from producer legend Martin. “When it came to taking advice from others, Ultravox were difficult. There were few people we would have listened to. But Sir George Martin was one of them. When George tells you something, you listen and do what he says tells you.”
Working with the legendary producer, however, was different than the band members expected. “We thought it was going to be very experimental, but it wasn’t at all,” says Ure. “George did it old school. We sat at the piano, played the song and worked on the arrangement. We hadn’t had anyone else work on our musical arrangements before.”
Midge Ure admits he misses “the punk element” and “the radical, dark side of Ultravox” on “Quartet”. “Before it was different, more experimental and darker. ‘Quartet’ was a pretty happy, polished record,” says the singer. “You might think we wrote an album to be successful in America, but that wasn’t the case at all,” emphasizes the Scots-born.
Previously, his band would often have left those responsible at American record companies at a loss. “How are we supposed to sell an album that starts with a seven-minute instrumental track?” What is meant is the song “Astradyne” on the album “Vienna”. Midge Ure laughs. “Not my problem!”
“It was really a very good time”
Under Martin, the band changed course – subconsciously, as Midge Ure points out. Although some fans were bothered by the polished sound, “Quartet” was a success. In Germany it reached number 13 in the hit parade. “It was brilliant,” agrees the Ultravox singer, who remains active as a solo artist. “It was a real album to play on the radio.”
Ultravox may not have worked with George Martin again, but Midge Ure still has fond memories of working with the Beatles producer and recording in London and on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. “It was really a very good time,” he says. “I have very fond memories of the whole process.” (dpa)
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